Chapter Seventeen
The wind had picked up by the time they got back to the house, and Lindsey was happy to get inside. Nick hauled wood in from the stack by the back door and lit a fire in the fireplace. While Lindsey stood in front of it warming herself, he pulled a bottle of wine from one of the grocery sacks, found two wine glasses in one of the cupboards, and carried everything into the living room.
Balancing the filled wine glasses, Nick stretched out on the floor in front of the fire, leaning back against the couch and patting the floor next to him.
“Come sit beside me, Lindsey. You’re wound tight as a drum. I’ll make my call to the office, then we can try to relax.”
“I don’t think I know the meaning of that word anymore.” She nibbled at her bottom lip. “And I’m fine on the couch. Thanks.”
He turned his head, his eyes studying her face as she sat primly on the edge of the furniture.
“Lindsey, I don’t plan to rip your clothes off if that’s what’s worrying you. I don’t know what the hell is suddenly going on with us, but I thought it would be nice to sit here together and try to unwind. Is that such a bad thing?”
She wanted to ask him if she was just a substitute for Stacy. If being handy put her at the top of the list.
“I have no idea what wild ass idea is running around in that brain of yours,” he continued, “or what set it off. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it later. Meanwhile, just come sit by my side. We’ll have some wine and watch the fire.”
Realizing she could precipitate an argument she wasn’t yet ready for, Lindsey lowered to the floor beside him and gratefully accepted the wine. She sipped it slowly while Nick spoke to his office. The conversation was long, although his side consisted mostly of “Yeah” and “Uh-huh” and “Good, very good.”
“Tell me what that was about,” Lindsey demanded as soon as he disconnected. “Have they learned anything else?”
“I’d say we’re making progress.” He took a swallow of his own wine. “Reno has an appointment in Boston tomorrow at Brent Dolman’s former law firm. One of the partners has agreed to meet with him.”
Lindsey jerked upright, almost spilling her wine. “So my father actually was an attorney? A partner in a big firm?”
“Looks that way. The article in the paper was as factual as it could be. Reno’s going to tell them about your stalker. Hopefully, that will prod them to give him a look at the probate file and find out about the weird bequests. He’ll call us as soon as he’s done and let us know how it went.”
“Those nightmares I had.” She fiddled with her hair, doing the thing where she tucked it behind her ear. Damn, she needed to break herself of that. “I know this will sound weird to you, but it’s as if the past was reaching out to tell me to save myself. To find the answers to a puzzle I didn’t even know existed. My mother was pregnant with me when this happened, so in essence I was in the water. And could have drowned.”
“My grandmother would tell you it’s not weird at all,” Nick disagreed. “Whatever energy reached out to you when your father died, it tried to prod you into looking for answers. And when your mother died, they came back stronger than ever. In a way, you actually might have been in the water and could have drowned.”
“But I didn’t, thank God. I just wish my mother had told me all this a long time ago.” She stared at the fire. “Speaking of my mother, any word from the nursing home?”
“Our man is still working there, and he’s been able to pick up bits and pieces of conversation from the other employees. I guess the break room is a good place for gossip, and he’s a master at ferreting it out. He’s convinced that someone was there that day, someone who got past the nurses’ station, and no one wants to talk about it. Liability and all that.”
“Right now, I just want answers,” she told him. “Liability’s the last thing on my mind. What about the Littmans? Have they found any trace of them?”
He nodded. “But it’s not all good. They relocated to a small town in upstate New York, using part of their windfall to buy a small business and a house for them and their daughter.”
“Daughter?” Lindsey frowned. “There was no mention of a daughter in any of the articles. Nothing indicated the housekeeper and her husband had any children at all. Where did a daughter come from all of a sudden?”
“It’s possible someone else was caring for the child while they worked for the Dolmans. That happened often in those days. Domestic help was not encouraged to bring along their families.”
“How weird,” Lindsey commented. “To leave your own kids and go off to care for someone else’s.”
If I could have children, I’d never leave them for someone else to raise.
Nick snorted. “You wouldn’t believe some of the strange things I’ve seen in this business. Anyway, I’ve got someone on it, but it will be tomorrow before they get back to us with any results. I did get more on the photos, though.”
“You mean they know who the rest of those people are?” she asked, clutching her wine.
“As we thought, Marie Dolman had a brother named George, and we’re trying to find out what happened to him. Also, it appears that Brent Dolman had two brothers we’re trying to track down. We’re also checking for siblings of all the grandparents. That’s it so far.”
“But that’s more than we had before.” She leaned back against the couch. “I just wish everything didn’t take so long. The only comfort is at least the stalker can’t get to me here.”
Nick built up the fire, and they sat quietly watching the dancing flames and feeling the warmth wrap around them. Lindsey’s mind was working overtime, trying to absorb all the information while forcing back the constant dread that crept over her.
“I can’t shake the idea that something horrible is hovering over us,” she told Nick.
“I can’t promise you what we find will be pleasant, but at least we’ll finally have the answers you need. And hopefully, we’ll catch your stalker at the same time.”
“If only.” She sighed.
Nick was as good as his word. He allowed her to keep a minimal distance between them and didn’t try to touch her at all. She could feel the repressed sexual tension radiating from his body. Not that hers was much better. But she couldn’t afford to let down her guard until she knew the real score with him, and other things took priority right now.
Eventually, lulled by the warmth and the wine, they both dozed off. They were still asleep when Nick’s cell phone rang and woke them. He looked at his watch as he grabbed for the phone.
“My God, it’s nine o’clock. Holy shit.” He tapped the phone to accept the call. “Vanetta.”
Lindsey could tell from his side of the conversation that it was his office, and the length of the call told her they had more information for him. She fidgeted waiting for him to finish. Finally, he hung up, but he took a long moment before he turned to her.
“Did they find out anything more?” Her voice was taut with apprehension.
Nick flopped back against the pillows. “We seem to be getting someplace, but I’m not sure where. The Littmans died two years ago in a house fire while they were asleep. Arson was suspected, but no one could prove anything. The daughter, who was thirty-seven at the time and had been in and out of their lives for years, apparently just disappeared.”
“You mean, as in gone?”
“Uh-huh. Someone thought they’d seen her about a week before the fire, but they weren’t sure.” He shifted so he was leaning on one elbow, looking at Lindsey. “And that’s another wrinkle. Something’s not right there, either.”
“What?” Lindsey sat up abruptly. “What do you mean?”
“From what we can tell, the Littmans took their million bucks and tried to set up a new life. Guardian managed to track Mrs. Littman through the domestic agency that sent her to the Dolmans. The agency knew about the husband because he was part of the package she presented, but they were pretty sure the two of them never had any children. Yet, all of a sudden, they showed up in this little town in the middle of nowhere with a daughter. I think that daughter is the key, somehow.”
“But how will we find her?” Lindsey worried her bottom lip. “If Guardian can’t find her, probably no one can.”
“We have a lot of resources at our disposal, Lindsey. It’ll happen, believe me. If she’s alive anywhere, my staff will find her. And tomorrow, Reno will call us from Boston with a report on his visit there.”
“I can’t just sit around and wait,” she told him. “I’m too antsy.”
He nodded. “I understand, but at the moment, we don’t have much choice. Let’s fix something to eat, and tomorrow, we can hang out at that little convenience store and see if we can pick up any old gossip.”
They cleaned up silently after dinner and went to their rooms early. Alone in her bed, Lindsey slept fitfully, afraid to let herself go and become prey to the dream. And she was still bothered by the situation with Nick. Her head and her heart didn’t quite seem to be in agreement. And her body ached for his. But she wasn’t about to let herself in for another round of heartbreak.
When she woke in the morning, she was anything but rested.
****
Nick was up shortly after dawn, his sleep disturbed by dreams of Lindsey and the uneasy feeling that something was going on with her she didn’t intend to share with him. He had lain awake a long time the night before, going over in his mind almost every minute of every day and night since he’d first walked into her office. He replayed conversations, actions, even their lovemaking until it made him so hard it was almost painful.
He supposed Quinn could have called and warned her about him again, but that wasn’t exactly Quinn’s style. He’d have called Nick first, checked what was going on, and made it known Lindsey was completely off limits. And he hadn’t done that.
So what was the problem?
He wanted this woman in ways he’d never wanted another in his life. He wanted to make love with her, laugh with her, grow old with her. The baby thing didn’t bother him at all. He knew people who’d adopted kids very successfully.
He could feel the edges of the case coming together. And after they did, he and Lindsey Ferrell were going to sit down and have a long talk. Meanwhile, he needed a pot of strong coffee to get him through the day. He broke the uneasy silence at breakfast by telling Lindsey stories of growing up and his fights with his sisters and brothers.
“I really envy you a large noisy family,” she said, a wistful note in her voice. “Maybe when we find the answers to this puzzle, I’ll turn out to have relatives, too.”
“That would be nice. Families are great. And I’m really close to mine.”
“I know.” She sighed. “Well, whatever happens, happens. I just hope some of it turns out to be good.”
After they cleaned up the kitchen, they drove around the island, checking the Ormond house again in case someone had shown up since yesterday. Eventually, they landed at the little convenience store. Lindsey browsed aisles tightly packed with every kind of merchandise while Nick chatted with the owner and his wife.
The couple was in their sixties and had lived on Indian Island all their lives. Even more important, when Nick worked the conversation around to the drowning as casually as he could, they remembered the tragedy vividly. They were happy, with little prodding, to recount what they knew.
“That storm did it,” the man said. “I never knew why they went out on the water with the weather closing in. No one did. They were experienced sailors, so I guess young Dolman just thought he could beat it to shore in plenty of time.” He shook his head. “They were getting ready to go home to Boston for the winter. I guess they just wanted one more sail before they left.”
“Everyone was so upset about it,” his wife added. “They were such nice young people, with everything going for them.”
“What about their families?” Nick asked. “Are any of them still around here?”
“Oh, no.” She twisted her lips in dismay. “Their parents were just destroyed with grief. Those two grandmothers were close friends. They hung onto each other, waiting for the rescue boats to come in, crying like I’d never seen. What a mess.”
“The marine patrol dived for three days,” the old man continued. “When they didn’t find anything, the parents hired a private crew and kept them looking for a long time. They didn’t find anything, either.”
“After a while everyone just gave up,” the woman sighed. “They sold them big houses and left the island. Don’t think any of them have been back since. Couldn’t bear to see the spot again, I guess.”
“They had a couple working for them, didn’t they?” Nick arranged his features in an innocent expression. “I heard one of them looked after the children.”
The old man gave a bitter chuckle. “That little girl was a handful, that’s for sure. No one could stand to be around her. I don’t know how that nanny ever put up with her. Lordy. When she had a temper tantrum, you could hear her clean to Boston. Scream and carry on like the devil himself was after her.”
“One time when she was in the store,” his wife put in, “we had to ask them to take her out. Her poor daddy was trying to buy her some candy, and she was kicking everything in sight. It’s a wonder she didn’t break up the whole store. I sure did feel sorry for them.”
“Do you think anyone else around here might remember what happened to that older couple?” Nick asked.
“Don’t think so. They wasn’t real friendly to begin with. And when this all happened, they didn’t even stay around for the search. Just packed their things and up and left.”
“Thank you for your time,” Nick told them and urged Lindsey out to their vehicle.
“Why are we leaving?” she asked. “We don’t have all our answers.”
“I think I got everything from them we can. Let’s go back to the cottage and see what we can piece together from what they said. And how it fits in with everything else we found out.”
Once inside, Nick stoked up the fire until it produced a nice blaze. Then, determined to see if he could breach that barrier Lindsey had erected, he pulled the big soda cushions in front of the fire. He lay down with his head on one and patted the other.
“Come get warm.” He smiled. “It’s cold outside, and I’m lonely.”
He watched conflicting emotions chase themselves across her face, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.
“Come on, Linds,” he urged. “Just a little relaxation and conversation.”
When she finally lay down beside him, he waited a few moments before taking her hand. He held it like that, listening to the flames crackle, until he felt her body relax a little. Then, slowly, he brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on it. When he traced her knuckles with his tongue, she tried to pull away, but he tightened his hold, kept teasing with his tongue and in a moment she relaxed again.
So far so good.
He went slowly, taking his time, not wanting to spook her. But moments later, he rolled to his side and brushed light kisses over her lips, her jaw, and her neck. She jerked her head away and moved as if to get up, but he pulled her back.
“Just a kiss, Lindsey. Today has been tough for you. Let me help you relax.”
Whatever battle she was waging with herself, she apparently needed to try and forget it for a while because her body relaxed and she accepted his kisses again. He paid careful attention to every inch of her mouth, then nuzzled that sensitive place behind her ear. A little moan drifted from her.
Okay, a little further now.
Before long, he slipped his hand beneath her sweater, smoothing it across her abdomen and sliding up to cup one breast. At the same time, he blew in her ear and nibbled on the lobe. He knew exactly what turned her on.
She tensed beneath his touch, resistance stiffening her, but then he inched his hand beneath the waistband of her slacks, all the time kissing her, nibbling and licking. She hadn’t pushed him away yet so he pushed his luck.
He took his time, stroking and licking and touching all those places he’d learned aroused her and turned her on. He knew the moment he had her, when his fingers slid between the wet lips of her sex, over her clit, and down toward her opening. She made a token resistance, but he knew just how to stroke and touch, how to use his fingers in all her most sensitive places.
When he went to work on her clit, she moaned and opened her legs for him. He slid his mouth over to hers, brushing her lips with his before sliding his tongue into her mouth and tasting her everywhere. He never took his hand from between her legs, knowing just how to touch and tease, feeling her growing more liquid, hotter, ready for him.
He chanced removing his hand but only for the time it took to rid her of her slacks and panties. Then he went at her in earnest. He didn’t care if he came or not, just that he gave Lindsey an incredible orgasm and that she understood it happened only with him. He kissed her until neither of them could breathe anymore, sucking her tongue and scraping it with his teeth, all the while rubbing and stroking her clit.
When she was close to the edge, he knelt between her thighs and stroked every inch of her sex with his tongue. He squeezed the cheeks of her buttocks and traced the damp tip of his finger around her rear opening. Everything seemed to drive her higher toward a climb.
The release, when it came, shook every inch of her body and every muscle clenched and spasmed. Just as she came, he slid three fingers inside her and felt her inner muscles clench hard around them. She shuddered over and over again, slamming her thighs together around his arm, trapping his hand inside her. When the last little shiver died away, he slid his fingers from her and, making sure she watched, licked each of them clean.
“Better than anything I’ve ever tasted.” He transferred her taste to her lips with his tongue.
“Listen, Nick,” she began.
He touched his fingers to her lips. “Don’t say it, whatever it is. Just relax in the pleasure of it.”
“You didn’t—”
He shook his head. “This wasn’t for me. I wanted to take the edge off for you. I—”
At that moment, his phone rang.
Lindsey tensed as he rolled over to answer it and listened without saying a word. When he disconnected the call, she sat up beside him.
“What was that about? I know it’s something. And probably bad, right?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He stood up and reached out a hand to her, which she took with some reluctance. “Let’s make some coffee, and I’ll tell you. But first, I need some information from you.”
The coffee didn’t take long to brew, and they carried mugs of it to the kitchen table.
“Tell me,” she demanded. “Right now.”
“All right.” He took a sip of the hot liquid. “Lindsey, who is Judge Harold Webster? Do you know him? Or of him?”
“Why are you asking?” She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Harold Webster was a very old friend of my father’s. He’s dead now, but I have faint memories of him from when I was a kid. My folks apparently knew him from…someplace.” She frowned. “Funny, I don’t recall how they knew him. I don’t think either of them ever said. He’s the only person I remember coming to visit them, and that only happened a few times. Why?”
“He’s also the man who inherited the balance of your parents’ estate, about five million dollars.”
Her pulse ratcheted up, pounding everywhere in her body. Could this be the breakthrough they’d been hunting for? “How on earth did Reno get him to give up that information?”
“As your parents’ sole heir you have certain rights. Quinn, who has your power of attorney, has the authority to act on your behalf. He’s the one who convinced the law firm to have a confidential conversation with Reno.”
“And?” she prodded.
“After some complicated financial maneuvers, the money eventually ended up in the bank in Cibolo.”
Lindsey couldn’t breathe.
“Lindsey?” Nick’s look was intense. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I can’t believe it. Any of it. It’s just so unbelievable.” She made herself sip some of the coffee to moisten her dry mouth, her hands holding the mug trembling slightly. “What is it all about, Nick?”
When Nick reached for her hand, she jerked it away. She didn’t want him to touch her, not now.
“As far as we can figure, it appears when your folks came to Cibolo, the judge turned the money back over to them. Your dad bought the ranch and breeding stock with cash and invested the rest of the money very, very well.”
She freed her hands from his and wrapped them around her coffee mug, clutching it with a death grip. “This is so unbelievable.”
Nick nodded. “Yes, it is. Anyway, the judge was also the one who recommended Ruben and Mary. They were newlyweds then, and somehow he knew of them. And you know that’s worked out great.” He shifted in the chair and leaned forward. “But there’s still a big gap between the supposed drowning and the appearance of your parents in Cibolo.
“Like, where are my brother and sister?” she asked. “Are they alive somewhere? If my parents moved to Cibolo, why didn’t they take the other children with them? What the hell happened all those years ago? Nick, I think I’m more afraid now than I was when we stated this.”
“We need to go back to the ranch so you can sit down with Ruben and force him to tell you what he knows. My guess is it’s a lot. I think he knows the whole story.”
“I feel like this is happening to someone else.” She ran the tip of one finger around and around the rim of her mug, as if an answer would rub off on her.
Nick got up to pour more coffee. “I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’d bet the farm this whole situation with the stalker will all boil down somehow to money. It usually does.”
“Nick, if my parents owed money to someone, I’d be happy to pay them. But who would they owe? Especially if they had so much?”
“I think we’ll find out it’s a little more complicated than that,” he told her. “I asked Reno to beep our pilot and tell him to be ready for takeoff about noon tomorrow. We’ll pick up Reno on the way back. Then we’ll go directly to the ranch and try to bring this to a head.”
Lindsey scanned his face, trying to read his eyes. “You already have a pretty good idea who we’re looking for, don’t you?”
He nodded. “But it’s only an idea.”
“Then tell me,” she cried. “I have a right to know.”
“From what Reno has been able to learn, we think the Littmans received a large sum because they took your sister, Barbara Jean, with them. The money was to assure her care and—”
“And what?”
“Keep her away from you.”
“What?” Lindsey nearly choke on the word.
“Lindsey, we’re gathering the final proof to show you, but it seems Barbara Jean had a nasty vicious temper and liked to hurt animals and people. She wanted to be the center of attention and hurt anyone who stole that from her.”
“Like my brother, who seems to have disappeared?”
“Like him. And you. Your parents wanted her gone before you were born.” He blew out a breath. “You won’t like this, either, but Reno traced her to San Antonio.”
Her heart almost stopped. “So you think she’s the one who…”
“I do.” He nodded. “He’s got people on her case, looking for her. So let’s just get through tonight, and tomorrow, we’ll head for home. I think by then we’ll be able to find all our answers.”
“Won’t you even give me a hint?” she pleaded. “It’s my life, you know.”
“And I plan to take damn good care of it.” His voice had a dangerous edge to it. “So please don’t give me a hard time, okay?”
“Nick.” She wet her lips. “What happened before—”
“Was good,” he finished. “Don’t lie and tell me it wasn’t. Lindsey, I don’t know what happened to make you retreat behind that wall again, but I’m not giving up. And you can take that to the bank. Just as soon as we have your stalker put away, you and I are going to have a long talk.”
She swallowed the rest of her objections and nodded her agreement. “I just wish it was over now.”
“Amen to that.”
Did he mean he was glad because now he could walk away from her with a clear conscience? That he’d done his job, and he could go back to his other life?
I can handle it. I’m strong. He’ll never know how I feel.
****
Lindsey spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on the sun porch, staring out at the water and trying to sort out the jumble her well-ordered life had become. Nick pretty much left her alone except to bring her tea twice and ask if she needed anything. She was grateful for the space he gave her, on a number of levels.
At six, he made soup and sandwiches and coaxed her to the table. They were still sitting there when Lindsey’s new cell phone rang. She looked up at Nick.
“Who could this be? No one has the number but the Medanas and my office, and I already checked in with them earlier. Besides, it’s a text ring and none of them like to text.”
“Look at it,” he ordered, “but be prepared for anything.”
She tapped the Message icon and waited for the text to appear. When it did, her heart nearly stopped beating.
I found you, bitch. Now you’re dead.
She stared at the message, afraid for a moment she would faint. Panic gripped her, and she looked wildly around, as if the person was standing right there.
Nick grabbed the phone, read the message, and cursed loudly. Then he stood up and cleared their plates. “Okay. I think time just ran out on us.”
“How did she find us? I thought you said Reno had people on her.”
“I said they were looking for her. This woman has a history of being able to disappear. This remote island is probably not safe any longer. We’re getting out of here tonight.” He pulled her up from the chair. “Come on. Let’s pack and spend the night in Bangor. If we hurry, we can catch the last ferry to the mainland.”
“I…I…”
“Come on, Lindsey.” His voice was soft and coaxing. “It’s okay.”
“I…can’t…I…don’t…” She couldn’t seem to make herself say anything that made sense.
Nick eased her back down in the chair, then brushed a kiss over her lips. She didn’t even try to turn away from him.
“No problem. Just wait here. I’ll do the packing and call the ferry office to make sure they don’t leave without us.”
“How did she find us, Nick?” Oh, God. This was as bad as her nightmares. Worse, even. “How did she know where we were? We were so careful.”
“We don’t know that she did. This call could be coming from anywhere, designed to make you think exactly what you did. Right now, I just want us to get out of here. I’m going to call Reno and update him, then get our things. Wait right here for me.”
Nick was still in the bedroom when Lindsey thought she heard the crunching of tires on the gravel outside. Who could be coming here? Surely not her. Not here. She went to the back door and peered through a slit in the curtains but couldn’t see anything outside.
Stay away from the door. You don’t know who it is. Get Nick.
She hurried back into the kitchen where she could hear Nick moving around in other parts of the house, shuffling their bags, checking the fireplace. “Nick? Where are you?”
A sudden scratching noise seemed to be just one more sound until she heard the back door open. An intruder burst in, dressed in heavy jacket and jeans with a scarf wound around her head. In seconds, she had the barrel of a gun pressed against Lindsey’s head.
“Go ahead. Get him in here. We need to invite him to the party, anyway.” She pressed the barrel harder. “Go on, bitch. Do it. Now.”
Lindsey froze in place. Brianna James’ familiar voice was the last thing she expected to hear. No, it had to be a mistake. This had to be wrong. Oh, God, was someone playing a horrible joke on her?
“Bri?” She could barely get the word out.
“Yes, it’s me,” Brianna sneered and yanked off the scarf. “Take a good look. I want you to know who I am. Who I really am. The child everyone wanted to get rid of.”
Lindsey didn’t think she could move. This had to be a nightmare. Any minute, she’d wake up.
Brianna took a small step backward, the gun still pointed directly at Lindsey’s forehead. Her friendly, open expression was replaced by a vicious smirk. “Good, good. No more secrets. Now call for Nick to come out here. Right now.”
No. She wasn’t going to call him into danger. She needed to send him some kind of signal.
“You’ve got two seconds, bitch, before I start making little holes in you. Get him in here right now.”
Lindsey drew a breath and tried to shout. “No. I won’t do it. If you’re going to shoot me, go ahead. He’ll just kill you.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” She wrapped her hands around Lindsey’s hair and gave it a vicious yank.
Lindsey screamed in pain.
****
A chill ran down Nick’s spine. Something was definitely wrong. Lindsey sounded scared out of her mind. Pulling his gun from his holster, he flattened against the wall and inched toward the kitchen.
“Lindsey?” He called out her name.
When he peered around the edge of the doorway to the kitchen, his blood turned to ice. He wasn’t surprised to see Brianna James holding a gun to Lindsey’s head. With the latest information, he’d been half-expecting her to be the stalker. And the look of hate on her face told him she wasn’t about to be reasoned with.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Her sing-song voice had a vicious edge to it. “Come on out and play before I blow this bitch’s head off.”
Nick tucked his gun into the small of his back and moved through the open doorway into the kitchen. The look of stark terror on Lindsey’s face cut straight to his heart. He’d promised to keep her safe. Instead, he’d left her right in harm’s way. But he had no way of knowing they’d stayed there one day too long. The information had only now come to light.
“I’m here,” he said as calmly as he could. “It’s all right, Lindsey. Just do whatever she says.”
“Good idea,” Brianna said. “Smart thinking. Get your hands up. Up!” she repeated when he hesitated.
He opened his jacket to show her his holster was empty, hoping she’d fall for it. “No gun, Brianna.”
“What do you want?” Lindsey’s voice had a tremor in it.
Brianna spared a glance for Nick. “You know, don’t you, Mr. Private Security? Yeah, you know all about it. Go ahead and tell her.”
Lindsey’s eyes darted toward him. “Nick? Is she really who you told me she was?”
He nodded. “Meet your sister. Barbara Jean Dolman.”
If possible, Lindsey turned even whiter. “My…sister?”
“Yes, but we’re not having old home week here, bitch. Too bad I didn’t punch Mommy Dearest in the belly and make her lose you. Save me a lot of trouble.”
“Guardian is good at digging up facts, no matter how deep they are buried.”
He shifted on his feet, and Brianna sneered at him. “Go ahead. Make a move. I’d love it. I’ll blow a hole in her head big enough to drive a car through.”
“I’m not moving,” he told her. “Just talking. I think your parents faked their deaths for a very specific reason. And I think it had to do with you and your baby brother. Maybe even something you did to him. We found letters your grandmothers wrote to each other in their distress and worry. It seems you weren’t a very nice little girl, were you?”
She shrugged. “All speculation. Nothing more.”
“I think they sent you off with the housekeeper and her husband,” he went on, “and settled them financially to raise you, as long as you never had any contact with them. How am I doing so far?”
Hate glittered in her eyes. “That rotten little baby. He spoiled everything. I thought with him gone it would be just me. I’d be the special one.”
“Didn’t quite work out that way, did it?”
The woman let loose a string of curse words that made even Nick stare.
“They went off to a new life and left me with those weird old people. Do you know what they told me? That my parents were dead and they would take good care of me. That’s a laugh. They even made me take their stupid name.”
“I understand the Littmans were good people,” Nick told her, wanting to keep her talking until he could make a move.
Lindsey, I’m going to save you. I hope you can hear what I’m thinking it. Feel it.
“Good for nothing,” Brianna said in that same voice. “Never letting me do anything. Punishing me. And hating me. Oh yes, I knew how they hated me. The devil’s child, they called me, when they didn’t think I could hear them. They considered it their duty to chase the evil out of me. But I showed them. I had fun in spite of them. When I finally ran away, they didn’t even try to find me. I’m sure they said good riddance. I wonder what my dear darling parents would have thought of that.”
“I’m curious. How did you find out about Lindsey?”
She laughed, a sound tinged with a hint of madness. “I finally went home about two years ago, a little down on my luck and needing a new stake. When the Littmans weren’t around, I snuck in their bedroom and dug around for money. I found a locked box in the closet. I picked the lock—one of my acquired skills—and guess what I found?”
“Information about the accident.”
“Bingo. All the newspaper clippings as well as letters from Texas. Thanking the Littmans for helping them get away. Anguishing over that damned baby. Stupidly telling the Littmans where they were. Idiots, both of them.” She laughed again. “What dummies they were. They even sent a picture of the ranch and this bitch, Lindsey. Dear mama was pregnant when everything happened, which was the reason for the entire charade.”
“To save the baby from you.” Nick’s voice was soft, with a dangerous edge to it that Brianna didn’t seem to notice. “So that’s how you traced her, through their new name?”
“I did some research of my own. With the Internet, it’s not too hard these days.” She glared at Nick. “When I found out what the estate had been worth, I was determined to get it. All of it. It should have been mine to begin with. I had nothing, and the little princess got everything.”
“Bad luck for Lindsey she ran the employment ad at exactly that time,” Nick muttered.
“Bad luck for her, good luck for me. She was only too happy to hire me.” She smirked. “And didn’t I just play the role of the efficient assistant to the hilt?”
“Lindsey would have gladly shared with you,” Nick said. “You didn’t have to go after her the way you did.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I said I wanted it all.” She raised her voice, nearly shouting now. “I deserved it. She had everything all those years.”
“The Dolmans shelled out a million bucks for your care,” Nick pointed out. “That’s not peanuts.”
“One million?” She snorted. “It’s nothing compared to what they were really worth. Anyway, it wasn’t for me, it was to bribe those two idiots to take me off their hands.”
“I suppose stalking Lindsey was somehow part of your big plan?” Keep her talking. Keep her distracted.
“I thought it was a brilliant idea,” she bragged. “I needed someone to blame her death on when I finally did away with her. You could be looking for the phantom stalker forever while I’d be home free with the money. Besides, I had fun with her.”
“You sent all those faxes and photos and text messages.”
“Yes.” That nasty grin was back. “It was so easy to frighten her. I did everything on my lunch hour or right after I left at night. It’s amazing what you can do without people asking any questions. Like renting a room in a hotel with no luggage.”
“You’re the one who insisted she call the police. Weren’t you afraid they’d get onto you?”
“No way.” She shook her head arrogantly. “I didn’t leave any kind of a trail. I used public faxes in crowded places and disposable cell phones. And she may have become suspicious if I hadn’t suggested it.”
“Quite a plan. And then what? You figured you’d just step in with your birth certificate and all those other documents and claim everything as yours?”
“Of course. It would be easy.” She flicked her hand in the air. “I got a copy of the will from the court. It states that when both parents are dead the estate is left in trust to the offspring of Andrew and Elizabeth Ferrell. Well, they can change their names, but they’re still my parents. And I’m still their offspring. And I have the documents to prove it.”
“What exactly happened with your baby brother all those years ago to put all this in motion? The one who seems to have disappeared?”
“You haven’t figured that out yet? I thought those old bags had written it in their letters to each other. Why, I killed him, of course.”
Nick tried to keep the shock from his face. “Killed?”
Brianna snorted. “Snuffed him out like a marshmallow. Just like I’m going to do with your girl here. Only I plan to have a little fun with her first.”
“Wait.” Lindsey held up a hand. “What happened to his body?”
“Buried in secret someplace. I think in Bangor. I heard the Littmans talk about it once. Lucky for me, they didn’t call the police. They’d have turned me over to the asshole juvenile authorities and then where would I be?”
“You can’t hold both of us with that gun,” he pointed out.
“I only have to hold her. You make a move, and it’s all over.”
Nick stole a glance at Lindsey and saw tears rolling down her cheeks.
“You think I’m any happier about this than you are?” she demanded of Brianna. “I lost a brother I never knew, a sister I never got to know who might have been helped by the right doctors—”
“Doctors?” Brianna snorted. “You mean shrinks who would lock me up and throw away the key?”
“I mean who would have helped you. Our parents were wrong to do what they did.”
“You mean selling me off to get me out of their hair?” She glared at Lindsey. “No shit. Too late for that now, though.”
“It’s never too late,” Lindsey said. “I’ll share with you All of it. Everything you should have had. Truly.”
Good, Lindsey. Make her feel you sympathize with her. Distract her.
“You think I believe that?” Brianna’s face turned red. “Not on your worthless life. Besides, this way, when you’re dead, I can claim the whole thing. I’ve got all the birth documents.”
Nick cleared his throat drawing her attention back to him. “How’d you find out we were coming to Maine?”
She shrugged. “I guessed. I knew you were getting close so it seemed obvious. I had done a complete search on Guardian and knew about the plane. After that, it was simple. I wasn’t far behind you.”
“So here you are.” Nick stood calmly, hoping Lindsey would pick up on his signals not to freak or do anything to provoke this woman.
“Here I am,” she drawled. “It’s time the game was over anyway.”
Her eyes burned with rage. She moved the gun slightly. With her hands still fisted in Lindsey’s hair, she raked the gun barrel across her cheek, leaving a thin line of blood.
Lindsey gasped, her eyes wild with panic, her cheeks wet with tears.
Nick’s gut tightened. “You don’t need to do that,” he said.
“Oh, but I do.” The smile Brianna gave him came from the devil himself. “I want to make her suffer. To feel pain. Before I’m finished, I’m going to damage her in a hundred ways and let you watch her bleed and scream.”
“Exactly what do you think that will accomplish?” Nick made his voice sound a lot calmer than he felt. This woman was really crazy.
“I had all those years of hell,” she shouted. “Why should she get off scot free? And with all the damn money.”
“You can have the money,” Lindsey told her, blinking back tears. “You can have anything you want if you’ll just let us go.”
“Too late. Now I want the money and my pound of flesh.” She raked the barrel of the gun down Lindsey’s cheek again, new blood welling up to mingle with the other. “Getting your—our—mother wasn’t near as much fun as I thought it would be.”
“Getting our mother?” Lindsey had a wild look about her now. “What are you talking about?”
“I went to see her, you know. In the nursing home. I wanted to see the bitch that threw me away. I told her who I was and guess what? She had a heart attack! Right then and there.” She threw her head back and laughed, a sound that was pure evil. “Too bad,” she went on. “I wanted to cause her as much misery as she’d given me, but she died on me before I could do anything more.”
Nick calculated how fast he could get his gun out and cursed the fact that he’d stuck it in the small of his back instead of his pocket. He looked at Lindsey, willing her to look at him.
When she did, he dropped his gaze to the floor, then back up again, hoping she’d get the signal. Brianna was busy concentrating on her gun. If Lindsey had just understood what he meant…
He let his arms hang loosely at his sides, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet. Brianna released the pressure of the gun slightly as she shifted it to a different position and that was all it took. Lindsey closed her eyes, went limp, and crumpled to the floor.
Nick dived for Brianna, grabbing for the gun, but she turned and fired before he could tackle her. He managed to grip her wrist and knock the gun out of her hand, then pressed her to the floor with his weight.
“You’re done now,” he told her, grasping both of her wrists. “We’ll see exactly who’s the bitch.”
He could have killed her with his bare hands, but that would just put him on her level and that wasn’t who he was. Besides, it was more important for her to pay for everything she’d done.
“Lindsey, honey, let me take care of this wild woman, and we’ll check your cheek.”
After flipping Brianna over and securing her with his belt, he looked around for Lindsey. When he saw her, his heart nearly stopped. She lay on the floor where she’d fallen, unconscious, a pool of blood spreading out on the floor around her body.
“Oh, Jesus God,” he whispered under his breath.
Quickly binding Brianna’s feet with his tie, he knelt beside Lindsey, checking the source of the bleeding. It welled in great bubbles from a nasty looking wound in her abdomen.
“Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die,” he prayed as he grabbed his cell and dialed 9-1-1.
The closest police were in Bar Harbor. They’d need to cross by boat to get to him, but maybe they also had access to a medivac chopper. Someone needed to get to Lindsey now. Assured that a chopper would leave immediately, Nick snapped his phone shut. Hands trembling, he did his best to stop the bleeding.